The Gift of the Ninjas
by The Annoynomous Writer
Summary: This takes place in the same universe as The Light in the Center of Their Universe, so please read a bit of it first at least to for context. Hikari and Leo face their first dilemma as a new couple, what do you get your new partner for Christmas? And what would you be willing to give to make them happy?


As December was reaching its midpoint, things in the lair had finally calmed down. The team was working together better than ever now that all the misunderstandings and the drama were resolved. Hikari and Leo were still in the early stages of their budding relationship and they were as clueless as most teenagers were with their first crushes. However, they also had a deeper understanding of each other after all the bumps that got them there. They weren't perfect as they saw the other to be, but they thrived to be better for each other.

Hikari felt like she had a lot to make up for her mistakes, the lies, and the half-truths that she kept from them. So, she decided to put her all into showing her appreciation for them by doing her best in what she was told was the most important time of year on Earth. She spent a little more time in the junkyard to find the perfect gifts for each member of her new family. Money was short and she already spent some of her personal savings on the whole team's joint gift for April. But, if one of the practical things you learn from living with mutants was how to make something out of what people threw away. She managed to find the presents she had in mind for everyone, except Leo.

Leo's gift was the hardest for her to find because nothing felt like it was worthy. With the strong feelings she had for him, she felt like nothing was good enough to show how much she genuinely cared for him. With a little over a week before Christmas, she needed to find something worthwhile before it was too late. She found that something one day when April took her out onto the street to check out the holiday décor.

As they were passing by a pawn shop, she saw something through the window that caught her eye right away. It was something so small and meaningless to anyone else, but she spotted that pin and she knew that was the perfect gift for him. She rushed into the store, much to April's surprise and stared at the pin in the display case.

The pawnshop employee was shocked to see someone who looked far too young to be in the store before him. Hikari looked up at the employee and asked him, "Excuse me, sir. Can I see that badge?"

April came in the store after Hikari, walking over to her with so many questions when she saw what Hikari was looking at, "What's so special about this badge that you just ran in here like that?"

"Don't you see? This is one of the limited-edition Space Hero Rank Badges!" She exclaimed as she showed April the creators' signature engraved into the back, "The creators of the show wanted to have them on the characters, but the network didn't want artists drawing more for the show because of budgeting. So, they turned these badges into collectibles and only made like 1000 full sets of them. Leo's been looking for them like crazy since he found out about them, I think this Captain rank is the last one he needs to complete his collection."

A large man with a balding scalp and a hairy chest overhearing their conversation and waltzed over to them. He was the owner of the shop and he knew a sucker when he saw one. "So… This thing here means a lot to ya, huh?" He spoke in a thick New York accent with his hand out for the badge.

"Yes! I was looking for something like this, this will be perfect." She gushed over it as she handed the badge back to buy it.

The owner took a good look and laughed in his head, this sale was a mistake from one of his rookies earlier this week and he didn't think it'd be worth anything. But now he's got a guppy here ready to take the bait. He pretended to examine it more before giving his price, "Tell ya what, since ya like it so much I'll cut ya a deal. 70 bucks for the brooch."

Hikari's excitement dropped like a rock in the ocean as April had her hands on her hips, "70? You can't be serious! Do we look like someone who'd have 70 dollars on us?"

"Look, I don't care where ya get it from. Mommy, daddy or some bozo on the streets. Pay up or ya can keep staring at it from the glass." The owner said as he locked the badge back in the glass case.

* * *

Leo didn't really think a lot about Christmas until the city was decorated with fairy lights and garlands on the streetlights. He was far too busy trying to make it through every mission with his team alive and home safe. They never took Christmas that seriously when they were tots anyways. Leo and his brothers would always just give each other whatever they could find in the sewers and they'd be happy. But life was different now that they've been up to the surface, the possibilities were endless and suddenly trash in the sewers didn't feel like great presents to give to your family.

Luckily, he knew his brothers well enough to pick stuff that he knew they'd like… or at least not throw away immediately. The hard part was picking one for Hikari. He wasn't going to act like being in a relationship made him an expert on girls, especially extraterrestrial girls. Donnie had been crushing on April for months now and it didn't make him any better at getting closer to her. What he did know was that he wanted her gift to be perfect. She deserved it after everything that happened this year.

Leo felt like he was running out of time to find her gift until he spotted it one night on patrol. As they were returning from an uneventful night, they passed by a music store and he saw the poster for a vinyl record that would make the perfect gift.

Hikari made it no secret that she loved the movie 'Your Name', it was a special movie for both of them. She also had a nice record player that Donnie fixed up for her after she brought it back from one of their junkyard expeditions, she had been collecting vinyl records she found and playing them in her room.

Leo smiled, a vinyl record with the movie's soundtrack would be the perfect present for her. Now he just needed to find one of them.

Unfortunately, learning about the record's existence was the easy part. Learning that it cost over 300 dollars was devastating to him. He was a mutant turtle living in the sewers, he didn't have that kind of money to spend. But once he knew those records were a thing, he couldn't find anything else that could compete. He knew that she'd love it and that was a good enough reason for him to try and raise the money he needed to pay it.

He spent time wandering around under the grates and picking up spare change he could find. Sometimes he'd get lucky and find bills, even a 20 once. But he wasn't going to get enough at this rate. So, he did what he always did when he had a problem he couldn't solve, he went to Donnie for help.

* * *

Hikari was in April's room, trying to find ways to get the money she needed for that badge. The tip money she was earning from Murakami's wasn't enough to pay for it, not to mention it usually went into their pizza fund. She didn't feel comfortable asking Murakami-san for any more money for what was supposed to be her gift to Leo.

Suddenly, April got really excited at whatever she was looking at on her laptop. "I think I found something. There's a job posting for a new café in Chinatown that is willing to take anyone willing to work."

Hikari looked at the posting and it was promising. It was a new café and all they asked was their waiters to be presentable, able to perform the tasks as required, and that be willing to work for a low amount. But that amount would be just enough, so it was fine as long as they didn't ask for any paperwork. "This could actually work…" She said, "But it's one thing to work as help and protection for Murakami-san, how could I work in Chinatown without the Purple Dragons starting trouble the moment they see me?"

"Easy, they just won't know it's you." April smiled as she came up with a plan.

April had a black bob-cut wig in her closet and she lent it to Hikari to hide her light hair. With a style makeover into something more traditionally feminine and cute and makeup, Hikari looked different from her usual self. Her braid was let down and combed straight. She was wearing a black spaghetti strap dress over a white blouse that April no longer wore. April also lent Hikari some shoes that matched the dress better than her sneakers. Overall, this was something very impractical that Hikari wouldn't normally wear, which meant the Purple Dragons were never going to recognize her like this.

They headed over to the café after securing the wig and coming up with a new backstory. "Are you sure this will work? My eyes are really obvious." Hikari asked nervously while keeping her head down.

"Just tell them that they're colored contacts." April reassured them as they entered the café.

The first thing they noticed about the Lolita café was that almost all the employees were girls in fancy looking maid uniforms and they were speaking Japanese. A young girl in the maid uniform came over and spoke in an overly-cutesy voice with a bow, "いらっしゃいませ ごじゅぃんさまあ!" (Welcome back Masters!)

April and Hikari looked at each other confused before April said, "Uhh hi, My friend here is looking for a job."

The maid-girl smiled and walked away. Neither of them knew what they were getting themselves into when an older looking woman in a more business looking suit came over to them, "Yuki told me you were looking for work, what is your name?"

"Aurora, Ma'am. Aurora Polaris." Hikari followed the plan and used her fake name. After answering some of the woman's questions, Hikari had a question of her own, "Hmm… What kind of café is this?"

"It's a maid café." The woman answered simply before asking Hikari to stand and giving her a once-over, "You look you like you'd fit fine here. We need to top up a little on the front area. Although some customers might like girls with flat chests."

Hikari was genuinely stunned by what this woman was saying. She knew that she didn't have breasts like human females did, Lightfuries weren't mammals like humans. But this was the first time someone had voiced it and had an opinion on how her body should look. She wasn't really sure what to say to that. One look at the horror on April's face told Hikari that April didn't know how to handle it either.

"Excuse me for a moment." April pulled Hikari outside of the shop and said, "We should go, this place is way too creepy to anyone to work at."

"This is the only place where I can work without any documents and get enough for the badge." Hikari tried for a more positive spin, "It's just 5 days, it'll be like those spy movies."

"Except you're wearing a pink maid outfit."

Just imagining it was enough to make her head drop, "The guys can never know."

* * *

Donnie knew that his family wouldn't come into his lab without a good reason. So, he knew something was up when Leo came in. Even after Leo told him everything, he wasn't really impressed. "So, you want me to help you make a record for your girlfriend?"

"Well… yes?" Leo looked to him with hope.

Donnie sighed, "Leo, even if I knew a thing about making vinyl records, I don't have anything to make it with."

"Well I've gotta find some way to get that record and I'm still 200 short."

"There are ways to earn money if you really want to, recycling centers pay for people to bring in bottles and cans." Donnie pulled up a website from the local recycling plant, "But you're probably gonna want April to bring it to them and collect the money."

"No! Hikari and April have been hanging out a lot."

Donnie gave him a flat look after hearing that, "You're doubting if _April_ could keep a secret?"

"You know what I mean!" Leo weakly protested, "Look, someone just needs to give it to them and they'll pay, right? I'll just cover myself up and they probably won't question it too much. It's New York after all."

* * *

Mikey and Raph were noticing some strange patterns going on lately. While Hikari and Leo were still acting like a couple of pre-teens figuring out how to hold hands right, they were a lot busier than they were before. Hikari was spending more time with April than Donnie was, and they caught Leo checking through their trash earlier today. Mikey wasn't as worried about his family's antics as he was about making a proper Christmas dinner for the first time, it was only 3 days left until Christmas and there were still some ingredients he was hoping to find.

Raph was way more curious about what those two were up to. He knew that Hikari was up to something when she kept going topside days in a row with no explanation. Today, he decided to give in temptation. "Hey Mikey, you ever wonder where those two keep going?"

"Nee-chan's been hanging out with April a lot, she's probably getting Christmas presents or something." Mikey said as he looked down on the list he had been working on. He probably had to make another run to the back of the grocery store again.

Jackpot, Raph thought as he taunted Mikey, "And you're not curious what she's getting ya?"

Mikey lifted his head from that scrap of paper, "I am now. We should follow her and see what she's getting us."

Raph smirked as he got off the couch. Mikey was too easy to manipulate. Soon Hikari was heading out with her backpack again, exactly on schedule. Raph and Mikey snuck out after her, making sure to keep enough distance between them and her, "Keep quiet, alright?"

"Dude, we're ninjas. I got this, like a turtle do." Mikey said as they continued trailing her.

They realized pretty quickly that Hikari wasn't heading to April's place at all. They hid behind the tunnel walls and made sure not to make any noise. The more turns she made, the more confused they were. Soon, they noticed she had gone up to the surface and followed her. "Where the heck is she going?" Raph asked as he and Mikey climbed up the ladder.

Mikey went up there first and noticed that he couldn't spot Hikari anymore. He searched for any signs of her hay-colored braid but he couldn't find it. "Where'd she go?" Mikey scanned the crowd for her, "She's gone! Like the shadow in the night."

Raph just smacked Mikey on the head, "Shush, shell-for-brains. She's over there."

Raph pointed to a figure in the crowd with black short hair and a pink dress. Mikey wasn't sure until he noticed that the girl had the same backpack Hikari was carrying just now. They kept following the girl until she went into a side door for a place called Lolita café.

Curious, they snuck onto the fire escape on the other building and peeked in through the window of the café. Their jaws dropped when they saw what was happening inside. All the girls there were in super frilly maid costumes and they noticed that they were all speaking in Japanese.

Raph now knew what this place was and had a huge grin on his face, "Is that a…"

"No way." Mikey looked like he was ready to burst out laughing too.

Sure enough, they kept a close eye and soon spotted a familiar pair of silver eyes in the same stupid girly outfit. "Oh my god… This is way better than whatever I thought this was." Mikey laughed.

"Best Christmas gift ever." Raph chuckled as he snapped a picture from his vantage point.

They probably weren't as stealthy as normal since they were too busy laughing. Raph noticed Hikari looking at them and the look on her face made him wish he was just recording all of this, first a look of shock, then shame and embarrassment, and lastly indignation as she marched out of the side door into the alleyway they were above.

She looked up at them and hissed angrily, "What are you two doing here?"

"It really is you." Raph laughed as he leaned over the rail of the fire escape, "This is amazing."

One of the maids opened the door and called out, "Aurora? Your table is asking for their maid."

"はい、先輩" (Yes, Senpai) Hikari blurted in panic before clearing her throat, "I'll be right there."

They must've acknowledged it before the door closed again and the two turtles dropped down in front of her. "Senpai? Man, I should've recorded that." Raph hadn't stopped laughing since he saw her in her pink outfit.

Mikey had his own question for her, "Why did that girl call you Aurora?"

"Well, I can't exactly have people calling me Hikari in Purple Dragon territory." She crossed her arms, turning red with anger and embarrassment, "Look, rag on me all you want after this but please just let me get through the week. I need this."

"What do you need that you'd wear _that_?" Raph asked as he was catching his breath.

Before she could answer, they heard something speeding down their way. "Quick, hide!" Instincts took over as the three of them jumped up onto the fire escape and hid at the rooftop of the other building. They watched as a white van sped in and parked in the alleyway they were just at. A group of Purple Dragons started getting out of the van and a familiar-looking woman came out of the café to greet them

"Who's that?" Mikey asked.

"My boss. And the Purple Dragons… Of course, this is one of their operations." Hikari stood up from her hiding spot, "Let's go."

The three of them jumped down and watched as the Purple Dragon started bringing out stacks of metal cases into the back office. Hikari pulled out her uniweapon, which she concealed in her costume, and kicked down the door, "For one time, could you guys not ruin my day?"

"Aurora?" Her manager stepped back in shock.

Hikari scoffed and glared at them. Fong recognized those eyes once he got a good look, "Well, if it ain't our favorite sweetheart. Gotta say you look good in pink."

"You're gonna pay for that." She growled as she activated her uniweapon and transformed it into her whip. Fortunately, it was only Fong and her manager in the office at the time, Raph and Mikey were outside dealing with the ones by the van and stopping them from taking the cash away. They made quick work of the Purple Dragon, they were never that big of a threat. Hikari knocked Fong out very easily with a whipcrack to his side and a slam against the wooden table. Her manager was clearly out of her depth and just cowered in the corner. Raph and Mikey were outside toying with them more than they were fighting.

However, the fight scared everyone else in the café away. The café was empty and closed by the time they tied the criminals up and called the cops.

"Guess I'm not getting paid." She sighed. She grabbed her stuff from the staff room, changed out of her maid costume and pulled the wig off her head, "C'mon, let's get out of here."

As they were walking through the sewers, she told them everything that led up to this point. Raph just shook his head, "You're doing this for his stupid Space Heroes obsession?"

"Aww… It's so sweet that you're doing all this for Leo." Mikey swooned. Hikari couldn't tell if he was serious about what he said or not.

"Shut up, you two." She rolled her eyes at them, "I still need 70 dollars to get that badge."

"I could always have a _chat_ with the guy about reasonable prices." Raph smirked with his fists ready as always.

"Tempting, but I'm not exposing you guys for some scumbag who wants to rip me off." She sighed, "I'll figure something out."

* * *

Leo managed to collect quite a bit with his run-throughs of the sewers, though that did make him a little depressed when he realized just how much trash people were throwing down here. He got two bags filled with cans from sodas, beers and energy drinks. Glass bottles were harder to find since they mostly broke by the time it hit the sewers. But Leo still made a decent haul and he was sure that it would close the gap at least. Leo managed to rummage some clothes he found together to cover his body and shell, along with a hoodie, ski cap and scarf to hide his face. With his disguise, he hauled his loot to the nearest recycling center.

"Hello? I have some cans here." Leo called out as he looked around the facility. He quickly hid away when he heard the sound of metallic footsteps, "Aww sewer apples."

He peeked around the corner and spotted two human-looking Kraangdroids, they were busying running the plant and melting the giant mountain on cans they already have there. "Kraang, how much more metal is needed by Kraang?" One of the Kraang asks.

"Kraang requires half a ton more metal for building more human suits." Another Kraang answers before he noticed Leo, "Halt human! Give to Kraang the metal material which is required by Kraang."

"I don't think so, tin can!" Leo said as he started pulling his bags away from them.

They must have recognized his voice or something, "It is one of those which are called the turtles."

"Time to go." With no choice, he kicked one of the bags into the closest Kraangdroid which bought him enough time to use a smoke bomb and get out before a fight broke out. He was lucky in that aspect but now he had to go back without a penny to show for all that effort.

Donnie noticed that Leo coming back into the lab without his bags, "Hey, Leo. How much did you get for the cans?"

"Nothing. Turns out that's how the Kraang keep getting metal to build their freaky robot suits."

Donnie blinked as he processed what Leo had just told him, "So, humanity's efforts to try and save the planet are actually supplying resources to aliens that want to destroy it. Well, that's good to know."

"We can worry about the Kraang's weird soda can operation later, I still need to get that record and I'm running out of time." Leo looked like he was ready to shake an idea out of Donnie.

"Well, the fastest way to get money at this point is selling stuff." Donnie offered.

Leo thought about it. While he had a bunch of personal stuff he had gathered over the years, it was mostly sentimental stuff or anything that people won't pay for much. Most of it wasn't in the best conditions. But then he had an idea, he left the lab and brought back a small black box, "This is the best I've got."

Donnie was intrigued and opened it. He was very surprised when he saw what was inside, "Your badge collection? But, Leo-"

Leo just cut him off and asked, "Can you find someone who wants to buy this?"

Seeing how determined his big brother was, Donnie didn't ask anymore. "Give me a minute." He said as he pulled up some searching on his computer.

There was one thing that Leo was right on, there was a lot of Space Heroes fans in New York City and one post on the forum got them a ton of offers for his collection. Some weren't happy to pay 200 dollars for an incomplete set, but Leo and Donnie finally found someone willing to make the trade tonight for it. Leo put on his disguise again and left with his box in hand.

If he was being perfectly honest, he didn't want to do this. It wasn't easy to collect this many badges in the first place, and now he was about to give away seven years of hard work for 200 dollars. However, the sight of Hikari literally glowing with joy with her wide earnest smile was worth it. It wasn't a sight he got to see a lot. Their lives hadn't been the most carefree lately with the Kraang, Shredder, and Karai all after their heads. He knew that she'd love it and that was enough to convince him to give up all of his Space Heroes stuff if he _really_ had so.

They met by the alleyway mentioned as per Leo's request. The guy showed up in a Space Heroes jacket that looks like Crackshaw's uniform, "Greetings, fellow Space Nix."

"Umm, Greetings." He said awkwardly, he still wasn't very comfortable around humans even if it was a Space Heroes fan, "Do you have the money I asked for?"

"Show me your badges before we make the exchange." The fan asked.

Leo handed him the box with his gloved hands and the fan opened it. He picked them up one by one to inspect them carefully, "It is true, you have most of the collection here. All legit too."

He then closed the box and handed him two 100-dollar bills, "Here is the money. Live long and prosper." The fan turned around and walked away into the night.

"I don't think that's the right saying." Leo muttered under his breath, but none of that mattered now that he had all the money he needed to pull this off. He went back to the rooftops and made his way to the music store where he saw the poster. To his surprise, it was still open past midnight. He didn't know if he could wait any longer for the shop to close. After all, what if the store sold out of them before he could get one?

Maybe it was courage, fear, or sheer stupidity. But he decided to take a leap of faith and walk into the store. He had his disguise on still so he could only hope that no one will suspect him of stealing. Not wanting to linger too long, he found a copy of the vinyl. He was lucky as there were only five left. "Finally." He murmured as he walked to the counter.

Now came the most challenging part of all. There was a lineup thanks to all the last-minute shoppers but none of them were paying any attention to Leo, which he was grateful for. The cashier looked like she wanted out of her job right now, so she didn't spare a glance as she took the money and placed the album on a scanner to disable to security alarm.

"Happy holidays, sir." The cashier mumbled robotically.

"…Happy holidays." Leo stuttered out as he made it out of the store. He let go of his breath when he was finally back on familiar rooftops. That was the most surreal experience he had ever had and he got the vinyl record he needed. He had a big smile on his face as he made it back to the lair and hid his gift away from prying eyes.

* * *

"You're actually gonna do this?" Raph asked for the umpteenth time. The walk to the pawnshop was a slow one with all the stuff they had to carry. She had two plastic cases filled with vinyl records from college garage sales and abandoned ones from the junkyard that Raph and Mikey were carrying. She had her prized portable record player in her arms, a black Crosley Radio Cruiser Portable Turntable.

"This is pretty much everything I own… that I can sell anyways." She sighed as she ran her fingers across the leather case.

They made it to the surface close to the pawnshop, it was as close as they could get without any risk of humans spotting Mikey and Raph in the middle of the day. April was there to help Hikari take all the stuff to the shop.

"Dude, I'd never give up my comic books like this." Mikey said as he handed off the case he had to April.

"Never say never, Mikey." Hikari said with a fond smile, "Thanks, we'll take it from here."

Hikari took the case from Raph and tucked the player into the case. The two girls walked into the shop where the owner was waiting for them. Truth be told, he was a little worried that the girl had given up on the badge but he was patient enough to play the long game and it looked like he was about to cash it in.

"I see ya back, doll." He asked the girls, "Ya got the dough for the brooch?"

Hikari placed the case she had on the ground before turning to the owner. "You're a pawn shop, right? I have a bunch of stuff here that I'm willing to sell for that badge."

April placed the case she had on the counter. They let the owner look over them, only to be met with a scoff, "Nice try, most of these plastics ain't worth my time."

"Fine, what about this?" She asked as she showed her portable record player.

"Well." His eye lit up when he saw the player, it was an older model but it was well kept and definitely worth more than some stupid metal badge. "Someone took pretty good care of this. Tell ya what, leave all of it here and the badge is yours."

"Deal." Hikari said.

The owner gave her the badge she was looking for and took the stuff they left behind. Hikari relaxed when she stepped out of that shop, looking down at the badge and clutching it tightly, "Finally…"

* * *

Christmas day came and the lair was filled with holiday cheer. Hikari woke up early to help Mikey prepare their first Christmas breakfast that wasn't worms and algae. The smell was enough to wake everyone else up and draw them to the kitchen. Stacks of thick fluffy pancakes, whipped cream, and bowls of fruit salads were all on the counter. They all sat down and ate together, enjoying the peaceful mood that they didn't always have the luxury for.

April showed up shortly after they finished their food. Hikari was feeding some of her leftover fruits to Spike under Raph's watch, while the others were around the TV watching whatever Christmas movie was on. Once the movie was over, they decided to give each other their presents.

April had decided to give her gifts to the others first. She gave most of her dad's old research journals to Donnie, Raph got a toolbox set after she heard that he had a bike of his own, Mikey got a new video game, while she gave Leo a set of calligraphy ink and brushes. She didn't know if Leo was using them but it seemed like the kind of thing Leo would like and he seemed to appreciate the gift. Her gift for Hikari was a special one and Mikey almost knocked the gift out of her hands when he saw a small pizza box. To his disappointment, the box didn't have actual pizza in it. Hikari was surprised to find pizza socks in there instead. The idea of the gift and the sad kicked-puppy look on Mikey's face made Hikari burst out in laughter.

April was genuinely surprised when she got a boxset of Harry Potter books as a gift from the whole team. She knew these books weren't cheap and Hikari was really the only source of money since she looked human enough to work in Murakami's store. She thanked them for the gift, a book series that was held so many memories of her mother reading Harry's adventures in Hogwarts as a little April fell asleep.

Hikari had given Raph a heating lamp for Spike to use, it took a while to find all the parts to make it work properly. Donnie got a nice medical encyclopedia she found at a book sale. Mikey's took the longest time overall, but she managed to collect about 4 years' worth of pizza coupons for him, which knowing Mikey was only going to last him about half a year at most.

The guys were pretty happy to get their gifts, she knew Raph wouldn't outwardly thank her for the heating lamp like Mikey did when she gave him the coupons. He jumped her as he gave her a hug, which just knocked her down the ground, "Thank you, nee-chan! This is the best present ever!"

She smiled as she held her wrapped gift for Leo close to her chest, showing that she wanted to give it to him later.

Leo was the last one to give his gifts away after his brothers went with their turn. Everyone was having a good time and Leo was determined to end it on a high note. His gifts got mostly lukewarm results, but he could tell his brothers really liked it. He got Mikey a monster comic book that he knew Mikey had been wanting. Donnie got a box of junked tech he found from the military compound, he didn't know what most of it was, but he was sure Donnie would find some use out of it. Though no one was more surprised than Raph when Leo gave the keys to his stealth bike back to him.

"I think you've been punished enough. Merry Christmas, little brother."

Raph just smiled and nodded, which was probably the best Leo was gonna get from him. Lastly, it was Hikari and Leo's turn to exchange gifts. Both of them wrapped their gifts, unlike the other gifts they gave, because they wanted to see the expressions of the other's face when they saw their gift.

The others watched the two as they opened their gifts. Each of them knew how much effort went into these gifts and they couldn't wait to see the bright smiles on the new lovers. But once the newspaper wrappings dropped to the ground, there were no big smiles on either face and a quick look at the gifts they got each other quickly revealed why.

Donnie was stunned to see the Captain rank badge that Leo was missing from his collection in his hands. Leo must've been heartbroken to get the last piece just after giving it all away. Donnie didn't know how to proceed or even say anything about it. The other three were just as shocked to see that Leo gave her a vinyl record, right after she sold everything to get that badge for him.

Hikari was speechless when she saw the record in her hands, especially since it was the soundtrack for her favorite movie. Leo was the same when he saw the badge he spent years looking for finally in his palm. The two of them looked at the gifts before looking up at each other, their gazes lingering on the person they cared for so much that they gave up everything they had for the other. What they didn't count of was how true it was for the other to do the same. Hikari started glowing with a smile and tears in her eyes, "Thank you, Leo. This is incredible. How did you get this?"

"I sold my Space Hero badges." He answered as he thumbed the badge in his palm, "What about you? I've been searching for years and I never found one of these."

"It was in a pawn shop, I had to trade them my record player and vinyl."

"You didn't have to do that."

"You didn't either, but you did." She choked on a sob and smiled, "That made me happier than anything you could've given me."

Leo looked down on the badge and smiled too, "At least I can wear this for Halloween next year. The Space Nix group I met are gonna be super jealous once they see this."

"And I'm sure I can find another record player, we can listen to this then." The two of them looked at each other lovingly, content with each other and everything the gifts they had represented.

"Hey dudes, look up." Mikey's cheeky tone snapped them out of their bubble and they did as he said. They looked up to see a small plant hanging off Donnie's Bo staff.

"Guys." Leo said sternly while Hikari was giggling at them.

The others were holding back their laughter as Donnie shook the mistletoe at the end of his staff. "You know the rules." Donnie sang playfully.

Hikari rolled her eyes at their antics and just cupped his face, drawing his attention back to her, "Merry Christmas, Leo."

Leo's eyes were now on the weird girl who came into their lives and changed everything for the better. Standing in front of her with her warm eyes on him made him the happiest turtle in the universe, "Merry Christmas, Hikari."

The two shared a sweet kiss under the mistletoe, much to Raph's badly faked annoyance and everyone else's delight. Splinter watched on from the dojo and smiled. He was skeptical at first, letting his sons go to the surface and bringing a stranger into their home. But now he knew that letting them go that night was the best decision he could've made for them. He spared a glance at his old family portrait and thought of his wife and daughter. Would Shen be proud of him? Of them? Would Miwa have gotten along with his new wonderful family? He would like to believe so. Splinter let that thought linger as he got up to go celebrate the holiday with his children.

* * *

A/N: So this takes place in the not too distant future of my story. It's no surprise that Hikari and Leo are going to end up together and I really wanted to get this idea out there.

This story is mostly based on the Gift of the Magi, if the title wasn't obvious enough. I had this idea in my head about a week after I started planning this story out, so I hope you all like it.

Please feel free to leave some comments to share some love. Feedback and reviews give me life and motivation :)

Merry Christmas to all, and happy holidays no matter where you are in the world.


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